The new year is coming! Declutter your home in advance
Decrease clutter in your home for the coming new year. It is an excellent time to do so, now that the gift-giving season is over, and you’ve likely acquired some excellent bargains over the last black Friday. It’s a great time to eliminate the clutter you’ve made and try to make room for the new items.
It will provide you an opportunity to reassess other resolutions for the New Year as you clean and organise your home. This is a great way to accomplish these objectives.
1. Mindset is key
Decluttering is not something lots of people are eager to do. It seems difficult and time consuming and a rather unpleasant thing to engage in. You just have to dig deep for the drive to divest yourself of your possessions. Remind yourself that less clutter leads to fewer cleaning tasks, thus leaving you more time to yourself. In this way, you can free up some of your things to get rid of clutter and maximise free time. Additionally, remind yourself that material things don’t necessarily equate to happiness or wealth. Don’t allow things to take control of you. Remember that the things that matter more are spending time with friends and family or finding contentment. For that reason, abandon the possessions you no longer require and don’t let them be part of you any longer. Important items you have an emotional connection to such as family photos can be framed and put display rather than buried under clutter.
2. Pick an area to start
A place to begin could be the spots that have clutter assemble fast, such as the closet, pantry, bookshelf, shoe rack, refrigerator, drinkware, kitchen counter, board game collection, craft supply, cord and cable drawer, junk drawer, makeup and toiletries, storage space, and medicine drawer. When you finish tidying up your spaces, you may decide to tackle other locations where people rarely think about, such as social media feeds, email inboxes, subscriptions, schedules, phones, thoughts, relationships, and mental baggage.
3. Schedule it!
Working within a specified time frame assists you manage your tasks more efficiently. Committing yourself to a reasonable length of time allows you to give your time and attention to each task.
4. Get equipped
Make sure you’re set up to begin decluttering your home so you can keep on with your plan and do not postpone getting started. Make sure you have all essential supplies ready before starting, such as trash bags, gloves, labels, and reusable storage totes.
5. Check your dates
Verify all the vitamins, medications, food items, spices, and toiletries available, and then check their expiration dates. An expiration time of over three months should be cleared out thoroughly.
6. If you haven’t used it in the last year, bin it
Whether to keep or discard an item by asking yourself whether you last used it recently or in the last 12 months is a very practical way to decide whether to keep or discard an item. This applies to both clothes and any other type of item.
7. Categorise things according to what you want to do with them.
Four boxes and colour-coded labelling for trash, recycle, donate and sell, will simplify the decluttering process by drawing in more focus to different areas of your home. Think about donating items to veteran nursing homes, group homes, senior centres, community or church pantries, orphanages, and domestic violence shelters. Selling your items is a great way to get rid of them because you can earn extra money. Some places you can sell your items to others are Fruugo, OnBuy, Wish, Folsky, Amazon, and Ebay, or have a used car boot sale. Take your necessary precautions to ensure you don’t become a victim of a scammer or dishonest seller if you decide to sell your products online. For instance, you can bring along a friend with you when you visit a potential buyer so that if you feel uncomfortable in the presence of a stranger, you remain together.
8. Don’t forget to have fun
Sometimes, you might lack the motivation to declutter your home because you perceive it to be a stressful and tedious project. Nevertheless, adding fun to the exercise can be possible by listening to your favourite music, munching on your favourite snack, and using colourful totes. Treat yourself to a meal out with a close loved one when you have finished decluttering.
9. Use labels
Labels are valuable when you are trying to declutter your home. Purchase attractive chalkboard labels or standard peel-and-stick labels that are colourful and use them to label bins, sacks, and boxes as you sort out your belongings.
Your New Year will be much more enjoyable and exciting if you apply these guidelines when carrying out clean-up. If you cannot accomplish the task yourself, it is a good idea to hire a professional declutterer to help or talk with a removal organisation to help you relocate things you do not need to where they need to go. As you gradually clear your home for the brand new calendar year, don’t just abandon it. Let’s make an effort to make it a habit.